“Like in the real world, freedom and order are both necessary in cyberspace: Freedom is what order is meant for, and order is the guarantee for freedom”, Mr Xi said. “Attacks against critical infrastructure and information systems, an abuse of cyberspace by terrorists and criminals are a growing global menace and that dark side of internet needs to be dealt collectively through collaborative efforts of global community”, he said.
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Delivering a keynote speech at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, he also strongly defended China’s internet controls.
“The United States and China agree that neither country’s government will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information, with the intent of providing competitive advantages to companies or commercial sectors”, the White House said. “While respecting internet users’ rights to exchange ideas and express their views, efforts should be made to build a sound cyberspace order under the law so as to protect the legitimate rights and interests of all internet users”, he said. One of China’s leading civil rights lawyers, Pu Zhiqiang, was put on trial Monday for seven tweets he wrote criticizing government policy and lack of democracy.
Besides Internet sovereignty, Mr Xi also listed five principles as crucial in cyberspace governance, such as the need to preserve peace and pursue open co-operation. “The future of cyberspace should be in the hands of all countries”, he said. Throughout the rest of China, Mr Xi’s Communist party enforces a system of internet censorship to stop citizens from accessing many sites perceived as threats to the party. With around 670 million users and over 4.13 million websites in China, the Internet and economic and social development have become intrinsically linked.
Organizers said about 2,000 people were due to attend the conference, including representatives of Apple, Facebook, Microsoft Corp, IMB, Alibaba Group Holding (Russian Federation里巴巴), Tencent Holdings (騰訊) and Baidu (百度), as well as Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain and officials from Russian Federation and Kazakhstan. “We warmly welcome enterprises and entrepreneurs to invest in China, as long as they are in accordance with Chinese laws”, Xi emphasized in his speech. Many other countries were represented by locally based diplomats. “Countries have the right to independently choose how they will tread the path of cyber development, as well as issue their own regulations and public policies, “he said”.
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Cyber sovereignty may sound pretty great, but opponents say it’s an opportunity for China to distract other countries from China’s Internet limitations.
